


You don't have to be broken forever

by krashlynfrance



Category: Women's Soccer RPF
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-22
Updated: 2020-02-24
Packaged: 2021-02-28 11:01:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,395
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22849093
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/krashlynfrance/pseuds/krashlynfrance
Summary: Ashlyn is a kinder garden teacher who recently moved to Orlando FL, after getting her heart broken. She is convinced she will never love again and honestly she doesn't even plan to try again. She gets settled there pretty quickly, she rides her longboard and enjoy freeing her mind from all the negativity. She doesn't miss home. She doesn't miss her. She needs to move on. Ten years is a long time for someone to choose you as a priority. Ashlyn never was the priority. So here she is in Orlando, starting from scratch in a new school, with new colleagues, new pupils and new dreams.
Relationships: Ashlyn Harris/Ali Krieger
Comments: 8
Kudos: 84





	1. 10 years of us

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys,  
> So this is a fiction I've been thinking of writing for a while now, let me know what you think of it! :)  
> Also, english is not my first language, french is. So let me know if you notice a lot of mistakes but be gentle :) 
> 
> Hope you like this new idea!  
> Can't wait to see your comments
> 
> Also, this is my first work on AO3 so it might takes me a while to figure it out ;)

It's the last day of August. Ashlyn has been riding her longboard for hours now and she's wondering how her calf muscle isn't sore yet. She doesn't care though. She needs to free her mind, to forget. The cool air of Florida getting through her hair is really helping her. She decides to close her eyes for 10 seconds, thinking it's safe as she's riding a straight line. She's about to open her eyes when she hears it.  
"Watch out!!!!" comes from her left. A young woman, probably in her late twenties was just parking her car in her driveway when Ashlyn comes crashing into the grass changing her direction at the last minute.  
"Great, Fuck.." she mutters under her breath  
As pissed as she is, Ashlyn knows closing her eyes while riding her board is probably one of the dumbest idea she's had lately. She hears the woman getting out of her car and it breaks her from her thoughts.  
"I am so sorry, I didn't see you! Are you hurt?" asked the woman genuinely concerned  
"I m alright don't worry. It's my fault, I wasn't looking either but somehow I managed to avoid your car and crash myself in the flowers of your driveway. I m sorry" Ashlyn says with a shy smile looking at the mess she caused. She destroyed a part of the very nice and colorful flowers that were displayed on a little part of the front garden of this woman and she feels really bad about it.  
"Oh yeah...Well as much as I like these flowers, Adam will be more disappointed than me. I m really glad you managed to avoid the car" the woman says with a little smile  
"Adam?" asks Ashlyn before thinking and mentally slapping herself for asking questions before even introducing herself.  
"Hmm sorry, I'll blame my rudeness on the fall, might have hit my head after all!" she says with a small laugh "I m Ashlyn, nice to meet you." she adds with her dimple grin.  
"Ali" the woman answers simply. And just as she's about to continue her sentence, a small voice comes into earshot. "Mom, I m hunnnngry" And just like that the woman gets up from the kneeling position she first adopted when she checked on Ashlyn and walked to the back seat of her BMW opening the door and letting a little boy out of it. "And this is Adam" she adds with a big smile "Say Hi to Ashlyn baby" "Hi" says the boy shyly from behind his mother's legs. "Hi Adam. I m sorry I fell into your flowers, it was an accident I didn't mean to" says Ashlyn even more ashamed and mad at herself for destroying the garden of the little boy. He is adorable, blond with short hair and green eyes, he has a little dimple on the right side of his face that makes Ashlyn smile when she remembers she has the same on the left side of her face. The little boy remains silent for a few second and finally mumbles: "it's ok, mummy will help me to grow new ones" "I sure will baby" Ali says as she gently stroke his hair. Ashlyn finally stands up and try as best as she can to spare the remaining flowers. And this is when she's completely standing that she realizes just how beautiful Ali is. Long brown hair with the most beautiful brown eyes she has ever seen, almost mesmerizing. Very quickly she realizes she must be staring and quickly gets her composure back. She grabs her board, apologize one more time to the little boy and to Ali, and jumps back to ride the rest of the street. "See you around" she says winking to Ali. She's not flirting. She doesn't even know how to do it anymore. And as beautiful as Ali is, she has a kid (not that it's a problem) but a kid means a dad, and Ashlyn is not getting into this again. The last time she fell for a woman with children, she became a mistress for ten years. Hopelessly in love, she watched the woman she loved acting like the perfect housewife in front of everybody, going on family holidays. She was always complaining about her husband saying her didn't love her right, saying she needed to leave him, saying she didn't love him anymore, that she was lost. All of this lasted for 10 years. This is what happened when you fall in love with your english teacher in High School. Ashlyn couldn't bring herself to leave this woman, she was like a drug. She was addicted and she preferred being miserable with her than without her. They used to exchange very loving messages about how they felt for each other and one day, the husband found these messages. He had been suspicious a few times about Ashlyn being such a good friend for his wife but when he found the messages he became furious. At least Ashlyn thought that it would force the woman to make a decision. And this is where her heart broke. The woman begged for forgiveness, blamed it on Ashlyn, said it was a stupid fling, something about her always fantasming about sleeping with a woman. Ashlyn got her heart broken, and when she met her and her husband in a small dancing club a few weeks later and saw him kissing her roughly she almost puked in the middle of the club. This is when she knew. She knew she needed to leave and try to heal. So here she is, starting a new life far away from everything she used to know. Tomorrow is her first day in Orlando Kinder Garden and she can't wait to see what this new chapter of her life contains for her. She sight happily and rides her board until she reaches her house. "Tomorrow is the beginning of the rest of your life Ash. You have the right to be happy too." she says to herself that night before closing her eyes


	2. A day of firsts

Ali hears Adam opening her bedroom door just a few minutes before her alarm goes off. She blindly opens her arms and invite her son under the covers to enjoy her last minutes of sleep. Adam snuggles into her. Today it's Adam first day of school. He is very happy, but also a bit scared, but he knows some of his classmates from daycare already so he is mostly happy about school. Ali on the other hand is completely freaking out. She can't imagine that her baby has gotten this big already. Next thing she knows, he'll be gone to college. She holds him tighter hoping that maybe he will forget about school today and stay in his mommy's arms forever. Adam is not having any of it though, and as soon as the sound of the alarm clock going off fills the room, he jumps out of his mother arms and hurry her up.   
"Come on mommy, it's school day!!" he says before running to his room.   
Ali sights sadly. Her baby is a little boy now. It has always been Adam and her. Adam's father was a military guy she met while she was in her last year of college. He was handsome. But that's all he was. A lot of muscles and a very small brain. She dated him for a few months, she didn't love him, but she also didn't like being alone so it was just fair to keep him around. One day she started feeling dizzy and nauseous, and the rest is history. Adam was born on October 2nd 2016. His father went MIA as soon as he learnt about the pregnancy and never contacted Ali again. She took care of Adam everyday since and she is loving every minute of it. Of course her dating life has been inexistant since Adam came along. She never was a one night stand kind of girl and she didn't feel confident leaving her son for the night to a babysitter or to her mother to go on dates with people who would leave the second they learnt she had a son.   
Ali is an independent woman. She works as a federal agent and try to balance as well as she can her son and her job. 

"Mum come on, I don't want to be late" says the little boy from his room  
Ali gets out of bed and goes and help her little boy. She cleans his face and gets him into the blue jeans et blue strips shirt she chose for him. He looks so handsome. She can feel her eyes watering and quickly gets a hold of herself to avoid the emotional breakdown that is threatening to happen to her right now. 

They get to the kitchen and Ali makes pancakes with honey and strawberries for the both of them.   
Ali gets ready quickly. She took the day off, just in case Adam decided that school was not for him. 

They get to school, Ali is controlling herself as much as she can. She gets into school holding her little boy hand and follows the instructions that leads her to the class Adam will be in this year.   
"Adam Krieger, Kinder Garden - Miss Harris" she walks with the little boy and stops right in her tracks causing Adam to bump into her and look at her weirdly.   
Mrs Harris is standing right in front of her and she's Adam teacher. The woman she almost ran over the day before and who destroyed her son flowers is the teacher of her son. Well that's unexpected! 

Adam follows his mother gaze as she remains rooted to the ground and recognizes the woman from the skateboard as well.   
That's when she sees them to. 

"Oh hey there. World is a little place! It looks like I'll be your teacher this year buddy." Ashlyn says to Adam with a smile "Hi Ali" she says to the brunette  
"Will you show me how to skate at school?" Adam asks remembering the blond on her skateboard the day before  
"We'll see about that buddy" she answers nicely  
Ali smiles at her son and look back at Ashlyn  
"Hi Ashlyn. Glad to see you're ok and didn't suffer any pain from your fall" Ali says sweetly  
"Well my neck and upper back are definitely sore right now but I guess that's what you get for riding a skateboard with your eyes closed" she says laughing   
"You had your eyes closed?!" Ali asks in mid panic   
"yeah...that's a long story" Ashlyn says with a wink 

Just as Ali is about to ask about the story, Adam pulls on his mother sleeve to get her attention. She knows it's time to let Adam go to class. Ashlyn can feel how stressed the brunette is. And this is also where it hits her that it's only Ali and Adam today again. She makes a mental note to check Adam file later and see if there's a dad in the picture so she can avoid any clumsy comment. She looks back at Ali, and the woman seems really distraught. 

"Are you ok?" Ashlyn asks concerned  
"Hum... not really" Ali mumbles  
She holds her son tightly in her arms, he is not crying but she is. He is holding her, almost comforting her as if he could feel that she's sad because he is going to school.   
"No crying mommy" he says and uses his little hands to wipe her tears  
"Yeah he is right" adds Ashlyn kneeling to speak to Ali "no crying, I promise you I'll take great care of him and he will learn plenty of great stuff to tell you about" she said smiling   
Ali lets a little smile get to her face as she looks at her son and at Ashlyn both trying to make her feel better.   
"Thank you. It means a lot to me. He is all I have" she says while whipping a tear on her cheek.   
"Here. Take this. This is my cell phone. I don't give it to every parent but I figured that as you almost hit me with your car, you're not really like every other parent right?" Ashlyn says with a dimpled grin   
"You had your eyes closed!!" answers Ali in disbelief but not able to contain her big smile at the blond antics "Thank you for this. It's really nice of you Ashlyn."  
"Call me Ash.Everybody does."  
Ali smiles.   
"Ok, it's time for school now" Ashlyn says as she notices the line of parents getting longer and longer  
Ali hugs Adam one last time and watches him walking into the class and immediately finding a little girl to play with. She smiles and the sight warms up a little her very heavy heart.   
"It's going to be ok I promise. It gets easier. Text me your number and I will send you a text telling you about him during the day ok?" Ash tells her putting her hand on the brunette shoulder  
"Thanks again Ash. I'll text you from my car."  
"You can come back to take him around 2:30 this afternoon"   
"I'll be there" Ali says as she walks backward to the front door of the school   
"Bye Ali" Ashlyn says smiling and showing her dimple again   
"Bye"   
And just like that Ashlyn is focusing on the next kid and that's what she does for the biggest part of her morning. Welcoming kids. Some are crying, some are smiling. But that's why she loves her job, because all kids are different.   
Around 11 she texts Ali to let her know that Adam is doing great, and the brunette feels her heart swell when she realizes the blond actually took the time to let her know about her son's day. 

By looking at Adam file, she realizes that she was right and it's just the two of them. No dad. She wonders how someone can be stupid enough to leave two people like Adam and Ali. She raises her head from the file she's reading and meets the little boy gaze as he smiles at her. 

The rest of the day goes quickly and soon it's time for parents to come back. Ashlyn expects Ali to be the first but she is really surprised when she sees the brunette at the end of the line in front of the class door. Ali is the last mother to get her son and it doesn't faze Adam one bit as he is used to it because of Ali's job, he used to be the last kid at day care.   
"Hi baby" she says scooping her son in her arms "how was it? Were you good to Ashlyn?"  
"I loved it. I want to come back tomorrow" he says smiling   
Both adults laugh at the innocence of the little boy.  
"He was an angel. He is really cute" Ashlyn says   
"Thanks" Ali says shyly "Thanks for texting me and telling me how he was doing. It really helped me relaxed"  
"Don't worry about it. It's the least I can do"   
"Oh you do that for every parent then?" Ali says teasing the blond  
"No only the cute moms who make me crash my skateboard in the flowers of their sons!" Ashlyn says with a smug look  
Ali blushes and smiles at Ashlyn as they are walking out of the classroom to the parking lot.   
They keep chatting until they reach Ali's car.   
"Hey look, I don't wanna sound too forward and please forgive me if I do, but I just got here and I don't know anybody yet, and I was wondering if you wanted to come and have dinner with me tonight? The both of you" she adds the end quickly   
"Well why not! but come over so we can have more time to chat! I don't want to put Adam to bed too late. Is that ok for you?"  
"It sure is. Thanks a lot Ali."  
"See you at 7?" Ali asks as she climbs into her car  
"I'll be there!" Ash yells as she gets into her jeep.   
Ali laughs at the blond antics.   
Yes, they could both use a friend to laugh with.


	3. Please, call me back

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So here's the next chapter!  
> In this one you get a little flashback on the story that broke Ashlyn's heart and she goes to dinner at Ali's.   
> Let me know what you think ! :)
> 
> PS: Also, thanks a lot to the person who told me that it was in fact Kindergarten ! I had no idea ! thanks a lot :)

Ashlyn was getting ready in her bathroom when she heard her phone blasting in the kitchen. She quickly finished what she was doing and got to her phone.   
3 missed calls. One voicemail. She didn't recognize the number so she just listened to it right away to see if it was important.   
"Hi Ash it's me. Hum, Lucy. I just wanted to know how you were feeling and tell you I miss you. I messed up terribly by leaving you and I m so mad at myself for hurting you this way. I really miss you. Please call me back"   
"Oh hell no" Ashlyn said to herself before pocketing her phone.   
She did it too many times. Coming back to this woman, even when she did not deserve it. Forgave her too many things. She needs to move on and as a matter of fact, this is exactly what she plans on doing by sharing a dinner with the gorgeous brunette and her son tonight. So no negative thoughts right now.   
Ashlyn grabs her key cars and close her door.   
She stopped on the way to get a bottle of whine and some white flowers for Ali because she didn't feel like showing up empty handed.   
"Hiiiiii" says Adam right as she was about to knock on the door   
"Hi Kiddo! you were waiting for me?" Ash says with a big grin   
The little boy nods before running back into the house. Ali comes into view.   
"Those are for you" Ash says handing up to her the wine and flowers  
"Oh you didn't have to but that's really sweet. Wine is my weakness" Ali says with a smile   
Dinner goes perfectly and Adam is delighted to show Ashlyn all his pat pawtrol toys. She plays for a while with him and Ali finds it absolutely endearing.   
Soon enough the little boy is passed out on Ashlyn's lap as she's chatting nicely with his mom.   
"So Ali, tell me more about yourself" Ashlyn says gently   
"Well..I m a single mom, Adam father is not in the picture as I guess you noticed" Ali says with a pointed look  
"I didn't want to assume" Ashlyn says slightly uncomfortable  
"Well it's just Adam and me. I m a federal agent and I work crazy hours but I would not exchange it for the world. I love my job. I've been in Florida for a few years now. And that's about all I can think of right now" Ali says with a smile "What about you? What brings you here?" Ali adds  
Ashlyn chocks on her wine and disturb the little boy sleeping on her lap.   
"Sorry" she mumbles as she tries to get her breathing to normal again. 

She looks up and sees Ali looking at her with a genuine smile and soft eyes, and as she thinks about it she realizes she could actually need a friend. Someone she could share her story with.   
"Well that's a bit odd and I don't want you to have a bad image of me but...if you really want to know I can tell you" Ashlyn says  
"I don't want to force you, I just want to get to know you so feel free to share with me whatever you're comfortable with sharing." Ali answers simply  
Ok here goes nothing Ashlyn thinks.   
"Well I used to live on the other side of the country until 1 month ago. I met a woman 10 years ago, and I immediately fell in love. She was my everything. At first we became friends and it was okay but I knew I wanted more. The thing is, she was married. Married to same guy for 20 years. She was so miserable, always talking to me about how selfish he was, how he never did anything to surprise her, or to make her smile. She was always telling me how she was staying only for her girls. 'Cause yes of course she's a mum. She has two great girls. They are really great kids.We became closer and closer and one day she asked me how come that in all the time she knew me I never mentioned any romantic interest in anyone. I was very ill at ease and I told her I just didn't think about it, and she asked me if there was anyone I had feelings for. I met her eyes, and before I knew it she kissed me. And it was the beginning of the most heartbreaking story of my life. Long story short, I was her mistress for 8 years, her husband found our messages on her phone, he confronted her, she denied everything, said it was only sex, put the blame on me only. We didn't talk since. I met her at a dancing bar 1 or 2 weeks later, and when her husband saw me, he kissed her passionately just in front of me. Like a dog marking his territory. I knew I could not witness it. I could only take so much. On the next day I asked to get transferred to Orlando, I got an offer very quickly that I accepted and next thing I know I m leaving all my life and starting from scratch in a new city."  
Ali stood there, dumbfounded. She did not know what to say. Her heart ached for this woman she barely knew. Of course being someone mistress is never ideal, but being treated this way when you really love the person is terrible.   
"Whouah. I can't imagine how much this must have hurt you." Ali says gently   
"Yeah... If I could go back in time and cancel this first kiss I would. I wish I never kissed her back and told her about my feelings. I haven't been able to date someone else ever since she came into my life. I needed to leave, no matter how much it hurt me. I knew it was the best thing to do." Ashlyn states simply.  
"I think you're right. You needed a fresh start after this terrible heartbreak. You needed to think about yourself. Make yourself a priority when this person wasn't capable of doing that." Ali says gently putting her hand on Ashlyn's.   
They stare at each other for a little moment until Adam stirs.  
"I should put him to bed. I'll be back in 5 mns" Ali says

As promised she's back very quickly. She sats back on the sofa and after 2 glasses of wine, Ali finds the courage of asking something she would never ask on normal circumstances.   
"This woman, has she tried to contact you since you arrived here?" she asks   
"Actually yes. She hadn't in the last month but today right before I got here, she called me. I didn't pick up so she left a voice mail saying she missed me and she was feeling so bad for hurting me... but it's too late for this now. I don't want to hear a stupid apology. She had 8 years to make a choice, and when she got the chance to do it, I think the choice she made was pretty clear." Ashlyn says feeling brave thanks to her glasses wine  
"Well I think you're right. Self care is important." Ali says with a smile   
"Thanks" Ashlyn says blushing 

The tension in the air is thick. Both women can feel the conversation is too intense for too people who barely know each other. Ali looks up and meets soft hazel eyes looking back at her. Before she knows it, she's kissing the blond's lips. She doesn't know if it's because her heart aches for the blond pain, if it's because she hasn't kissed anyone in a long long time, if it's because Ashlyn is more than her type. She doesn't know. But when she feels the blond kiss her back, she stops thinking. She just enjoys a passionate kiss until something flicks in her mind. She pulls back before it gets too heated.   
"I m sorry. I don't know what got into me. You're my son teacher, I barely know you and I just..." Ali starts rambling and before she can finish her sentence Ashlyn lips are back on hers. Softly. Slowly. It's not sexual, not sensual. It's healing. The kind of kiss you give to ease the pain.   
She pulls back slowly, and looks at the brunette's eyes softly.   
"Thank you Ali. For not judging. For understanding. For taking the time to make me feel welcome here. As for me being Adam's teacher, I always separate my private and my professional life and I suppose you do the same. I had a really nice time, and after everything I told you, you know that right now I m not looking for anything more than friendship, but I'd really like to get to know you and be your friend." Ashlyn says gently   
"I would love that too." Ali smiles   
"Great. I m gonna go now it's getting late, and I don't want to keep you up too late. I'll see you at school tomorrow?" Ashlyn asks while she grabs her car keys   
"Yep you sure will. Goodnight Ash."  
"Goodnight Ali."

This night, Ashlyn stares at her ceiling. Lucy called. But Ashlyn knows for a fact that doesn't want to call her back.   
She kissed Ali. And even if that didn't mean anything, she hadn't kissed anyone in a long time. The last person other than Lucy that she kissed was a girl she found in a bar on an evening where Lucy went to the movies with her husband. She was so hurt that she found the first brunette in a bar and kissed her.   
Ashlyn sights. She wanna move on. She's not there yet but Ali could be the perfect reason to move on. But for now she will just enjoy this woman friendship and what must happen will happen. Time will tell. 

But for the first time in a while, Ash feels lighter when she goes to sleep that night.


End file.
